Today I am going for my semi-annual doctor’s visit for a check-up. The general state of my health is good (I know its not “excellent” and I find myself debating if its just “good” or “very good” in the five level rating system the questionnaire asks). In fact, it’s much better than it was six months ago, which is before I lost twenty pounds, solved my edema problem and started wearing compression socks every day.…
I am aware that I live too much in my mind. I can’t seem to help it. Someone broke off my internal volume control knob and I’m fairly certain many people who know me only wish I had an accessible external volume control. I recall during my college fraternity days that there was a caricature artist who came to the fraternity once a year (with 54 fraternities and probably 15 sororities at Cornell in those…
It has quite suddenly become that time of year again when season has passed from summer to fall and the autumnal equinox is upon us. The equinox occurs twice a year when day and night are approximately equal in length across the globe. As we all learned in grade school Earth Science, the Vernal (Spring) Equinox occurs around March 20-21 in the Northern Hemisphere and the Autumnal (Fall) Equinox occurs around September 22-23 in the…
We all learned that Jane Goodall died today. Jane Goodall was a renowned British primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist, best known for her groundbreaking research on wild chimpanzees in Tanzania. In 1960, at age 26, she began studying chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. Her work revolutionized our understanding of chimpanzees and human evolution. She’s the person who discovered that chimps make and use tools, eat meat, and have complex social behaviors, findings that…
Yesterday I was on a ride out to the eastern part of the county to an area called Sunrise Highway. It is in the Laguna Mountains near the Mexican border and defines the line between the western and eastern parts of San Diego with the Carizzo Valley to the east that runs down towards the Salton Sea. The high plains basin of Lake Cuyamaca and the ridge line to the east of that are some…
Everything you read that seeks to give advice to our demographic bulge known as the Baby Boomers, tells you to avoid the sedentary life at all costs. A sedentary lifestyle is thought to be remarkably harmful to human health and is considered one of the most significant preventable health risks in modern society. There is an evolutionary mismatch between being sedentary and good health. We’re built for movement. Humans evolved as hunter-gatherers, walking 5-10+ miles…
I read a disturbing report this morning that probably shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did bring to mind an old expression…In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. This proverb has ancient roots, though its exact origin, like many proverbs is debated among scholars. The most commonly cited origin is that it is attributed to Desiderius Erasmus, the Dutch Renaissance humanist, who included it in his collection “Adagia” (1500-1536), a compilation…
Let me begin by stating that I value this hilltop VERY highly and we have no intention of leaving it soon. I am not so very voyeuristic about my home’s value that I tune into what my friend Steven calls Zillow Porn so very often. I am aware that Zillow has valued my home very much lower than I feel it deserves, but I understand the limitations of a vast algorithmically-driven service like Zillow and…
The Ocotillo (Fouquieria Splendens) is one of the most distinctive and fascinating desert plants of the American Southwest. Kim and I (especially Kim) have been very fond of the plant for a dozen years, since we started exploring our desert surroundings. Our friend Natasha is crazy about the Joshua Tree (Yucca Brevifolia) a native Agave that grows in the Mojave Desert just east of here and is both the state plant of Nevada and is…
The world’s major deserts span across different continents and climate zones, each with distinct characteristics. There are hot deserts. The Sahara in North Africa is the largest hot desert, covering much of the northern third of the continent. The Arabian Desert stretches across the Middle East, while the Thar Desert lies between India and Pakistan. In North America, the Sonoran, Chihuahuan, and Mojave deserts cover parts of the southwestern United States and Mexico. Australia’s Great…